powerwrx

iTrader: (11)

hi all, ive recently rejoined the gym (tuesday) and im about to go again today but my arms and legs are really sore from my first day, question is...should i wait untill the soreness has gone or eased before going again or should i just work through it?

thanks

also im wondering what sort of things to eat before going, i usually have brown toast and porrage in a morning, is that a good thing to be eating before a workout

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

You'll find the more you go, the less time it takes for your muscles to recover, but you shouldn't be surprised if it takes a few days for your muscles to recover, especially if it's the first exercise you've done on these parts for a while.

You should try and alternate body parts - if your arms and legs are hurting, don't exercise them if they are sore, but instead do your back, chest, shoulders, etc. to give your sore parts time to recover.

RICHARD J

iTrader: (4)

Don't work sore limbs. Split your routine up so each body part gets 5 to 7 days rest. Ie work chest & back Monday,legs Wednesday & so on. Do a bit of cardio as a warm up aswell. Have a protein & oat shake before & after each work out & get lots of sleep .

Leslie

Its like the first game of rugby of a new season. The muscles always hurt after that and the answer was to exercise gently to start with until the soreness disappears. It doesn't usually come back once you are establish in the exercise routine.

As far as eating is concerned, it just seems like common sense to me. Don't overeat and arrive feeling stuffed!

Les

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Pu$$y, NO PAIN, NO GAIN, MTFU.

powerwrx

iTrader: (11)

i have a planned circuit that the instructor set out for me for the first 8 weeks, not many variations on it really..if i were to miss out the ones which are sore it isnt much of a circuit haha

should i just swap them for a different exercise and go off the plan for now

powerwrx

iTrader: (11)

helpfull

Ant

Work on something else unroll they're all good.

steviefastbikes

Dont eat 2hrs before exercise
do eat within 2hrs after,high protein to help rebuild muscle.
Dont do the same routine it will stop gains after 6 weeks.
Always do more or do it faster or do it longer.
Eg
run 2 miles in 20mins week1
Run 2 miles in 18mins week2
After you get the times down to 15 mins you would increase the distance and so forth
hope this helps you

petethemeat

iTrader: (6)

Dont miss a workout just because your sore. However you need to ensure you are properly warming up, spend more time warmup up a sore area - once you are a set or two into a movement it will ease up.

The fact you are sore will not detriment your performance on a different workout, your body is sore because you are shocking your muscles and at the moment it is still new, over time you will adjust.

What are your goals?

StiX

iTrader: (4)

I would do all the exercises that you have planned, but if it's aching go light or swap for a more toning exercise instead.

For e.g.

Arms - maybe swap barbell curls for one-arm curling sat on a bench (more about form than out & out weight)

Legs - ditch Squats for leg extensions??

If they aren't aching that badly just keep the exercise and go a bit lighter?

petethemeat

iTrader: (6)

There is no need to change a routine every 6 weeks as you say, just make tweaks, these could even be down to the length of rest between sets / upping the reps or increasing the weight.

Not sure on the OPs goals but if its fat loss i would be suggesting minimal rest between sets.

steviefastbikes

Totally agree you want the muscles to be in hypertrophy(spelling??).
If you have a good instructor and are honest about your goals and committment to them you will do well
p.m.a.

mgcvk

Since I stopped going to the gym around 6 months ago - as they wouldn't give me another good deal - I have slimmed down but put on about half a stone. Now cycle and do weights at home. Think I was doing too much of the same thing at the gym. It is addictive though. I miss the rowing machine most as a good warm up.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

WAIT!!

ALWAYS listen to your body. If it's sore, it's telling you it's not ready for another workout.

Generally speaking you want to leave it at least 1 clear day between workouts, sometimes more depending on the intensity of the training. Over-training is a quick way to an injury for a newbie!

Ns04

powerwrx

iTrader: (11)

thanks for the input and help guys, gust got back from my second session.... i went for a lighter weight on the sore areas and worked on a couple of different groups. also did abit more cardio.

im not over weight at all 6'1" and 11st 8lbs but i want to tone and build up some muscle thats my goal

steviefastbikes

More sets and less reps then.
Do the exercise clean no jerking

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Some advice -

1) Sort your diet out: if you want to put on muscle, you need a decent protein intake. Try and eat little and often if possible. A decent protein shake will help, but it's not a substitute for a proper diet

2) Rest properly between workouts; that's when the muscle development occurs. Depriving yourself of rest is counter productive

3) Workout properly, get down the gym and lift weights like you mean it. Don't just stare at the skirt. Aim for about 10-12 reps per set to start with. When you can do that comfortably, increase the weight and repeat the process. When you get more accustomed to the gym, you can aim for 6-10 reps. Personally, I don't lift any weight that I can't do 6 reps with - my own way of making sure that I don't get into a habbit of sacrificing form for ego!

4) Apart from the getting the "triangle" of diet, rest and workout right, take all other advice with a pinch of salt, there is no definitive way for everyone; there is the right way for you, which will take some experimentation to discover.

5) Remember, you're not in contest with other people down the gym, you're competing with yourself... don't feel pressuried into lifting more weight than you're comfortable with to keep face; it's the quick way to an injury!!!

6) Putting on muscle mass takes time. There are no overnight fixes....Sorry! Keep with it, try and "enjoy the journey" and you'll notice good gains in the months to come though!

All the best with it!

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

LOl, just pulling your chain dude

Some good advice above, mine would be as NS04 said, listen to your body.

You want to bulk up so you'll need a protein shake straight after a work out as i believe you need to get something inside you within 20mins not 2hrs.

You also need to pay attention to your diet, drop the bread and control your carb intake, to lose the bits of fat you may have.

bodybuilding.com was a good source of info for me with regards the little tricks that you can play on your body(safely) using your diet to help achieve specific goals.

I also purchased a nike sport band to let me know what was happening during my workouts and the site is is quite helpful too, it's one of the cheaper workout data loggers.

There are many ways to skin a cat you just need to find what works best for you as everyone is different and has different goals.

Stick at it and you will get results.

steviefastbikes

It can be good to get a training partner to help each other out.
You are less likely to take it easy with someone motivating you the correct way!
Like what scooby said above,everyone is different you just have to find whst works for you.
I am in the same boat just got back to training after a 10yr break
good luck
Dont give it up

powerwrx

iTrader: (11)

thanks for your help again guys

powerwrx

iTrader: (11)

eat little and often, ive heard this alot, but what type of things am i suppose to be eating

petethemeat

iTrader: (6)

high protein, low carbs, low fat...but you will need to find your way with this. If you try to cut carbs out completely you may find yourself struggling for energy.

Try to stick to whole foods like chicken, tuna, turkey etc + some kind of vegetables - broccoli, green beans etc + seasoning etc

Cut out the snacking and try to keep your diet mostly clean, dont however deny yourself some cheat meals etc.

As mentioned above BB.com can be a good resource, i am more into muscletalk.com myself.

the key with anything like this is CONSISTENCY

Wolf_gsxr

The first day I started it was agony the next morning. I went the next day but did half the weight and double the reps and just increased it daily till I woke up and didn't feel like I was paralized lol. Also you shouldn't go every day. I did 5 days a week. 2 days, rest, 3days, rest.

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

6 meals a day, no carbs after 3pm.
If your training then a protein drink/shake an hour before and straight after a workout (skimmed milk, scoop protein powder, peanut butter as a shake)
For meal sizes : protein volume / content should be about the size of your clenched fist, carb volume / content should be about the size of your open hand and veg is always good to add.

If you aiming to gain size / muscle then a gram of protein for every pound of bodyweight your aiming for - so if you wanna be 200 lbs (about 14 stone) then every day, training or not, you need to be taking in about 200g of protein, split over 6 meals = about 33g per meal.
A chicken breast is about 25g, can of tune a bit more and you can use protein powder of course but don't replace good, clean protein rich foods with protein powder if you can avoid it.

For beginner I would say split body into 2 : Chest / Shoulders / Triceps then Back / Legs / Biceps and leave at least 3 days between training the same body part. DONT train if sore.

Soreness is the body still re-building muscle that's been torn through training - re-building it bigger (you hope !) so dont interrupt that process, or you will be overtraining.

Biggest / most common mistakes : over-training, bad form, bad diet and not enough rest.
Consider rest more important than what you do in the gym (muscles grow while your asleep, so who's gonna grow more, someone who gets 4 hours or someone who gets 7-8 hours ?)

Dont think that you need to do 9 sets on your biceps because you do 9 sets on your chest / back etc - biceps are a WAY smaller bodypart.

Once you can do a certain exercise in perfect form to the correct number of reps, increase the weight, even if its a little. Bench press for example : slowly down (3-4 secs) and 2-3 secs up.

I can honestly say that if most people used perfect form and slowed things down they would probably have to decrease the weight they used by at least 20%.....to do it right.

Include mass builders early on - bench press, squats, dead lifts, dips, bent over rows, pull-ups.

Don't get hung up by what others are lifting and try to compete, its not about them.

Get a training partner - a good partner can increase your intensity by 25%, easily.

DRINK LOTS OF WATER.

Keep changing your routines, switch things around, your body is incredibly adaptive and learns whats coming next - so shock it.

steviefastbikes

Spot on^^^^

Alteredbeast

Forget about any protein shakes mate, at this stage! just eat well and TRAIN......If u are sore u can still train but do some 20 reps warm ups to get the blood flowing,once thats done u should have less soreness....

powerwrx

iTrader: (11)

great advice there, thanks for you time...

jef

iTrader: (13)

as said its DOMS - delayed onset muscle sorness.
at the gym youve done excersise thats caused micro tears in your muscle tissue - thats why its sore. the nutrients you eat, mainly protein repair theses tears. with a combination of tim/rest/sleep.
if still sore then muscle isnt fully healed so not the best to train too quick.
the reason the pain goes away as your training progresses is, your body has "overhealed" itself in an effort to prepair itself for another ssituaion where your tissue would be exposed to the same stresses.
this is how bodybuilders grow, but also how anyone body chages in relation to the sport they do, ie swimmers develop shoulders, ect.
the tears arent a bad thning, its part of excersise - only if bodybuilding dow you want to repeat this process continually

for just health and fitness its not constantly necessary.

but after a while off the gym most peoples diet dont have enough protein in them to support the tissue they gain thropugh sport, so they loose soem muscle tissue, and thats why when you start again its very sore for the first few times again

Alteredbeast

Which gym do u guys go to ?? Pure Gym here